Long Live 2 Channel audio......???

Over the next 5 to 10 years multi-channel will replace stereo as the dominate home sound format. However, stereo will not die out, but not because of a vocal audiophile minority, but due to its continued dominance in car and headphone arena. In much the same way the pop/rock music in stereo is mixed to maintain mono compatibility, future multi-channel sound will have stereo compatibility. While stereo can provide a reasonable fascimilie of a concert performance, multi-channel sound can provide even greater realism. It's important when discussing this topic to differentiate between multi-channel music and HT movie sound. Most future systems will by optimized for HT. My comments about greater realism apply to those multi-channel systems optimized for music.

Unless you are hearing an outdoor concert, the majority of sound reaching you is reflected. It's in the reproduction of the reflections comprising room sound where multi-channel has the potential to better stereo. Will this potential be realized? Your guess is as good as mine, but the potential is there.

Carl, my real argument for multi-channel's future dominance is not due to any sonic superiority, but due to market forces. Today the vast bulk of consumers are not buying 2 channel systems, instead they are buying multi-channel. Like it or not, HT is the dominant driver of non-portable audio systems. To your point about CDs, a format that didn't have the data storage capabilities to be multi-channel, why do you think the manufacturers are trying to get us (consumers) to migrate to DVD? Don't fool yourself and think superior sound quality is at the top of their list. It's the multi-channel sound and video capabilities. A few maunfacturers will take the time and effort to design into HT components high quality music-only capabilities. Check out what Meridian is doing. Unfortunately, most in most systems the music will only be an afterthough to the multi-channel video. BTW, whether or not musicians and audio engineers ever make realistic use of multi-channel's capabilities is a whole other question.

Listening in mono is a very severe test for a speaker. Stripped on the majority of spatial information leaves the speaker "naked" and its ability to accurately portray the tonal and rhythmic qualities of music are laid bare. When first introduced 2-channel sound was not universally hailed as an advance. Similar arguments to those expressed above were voiced..."it may be good for movies, but". Maybe we should start a BACK TO MONO movement?